ARCHITECTURAL PRESENTATION PROBLEMS

The matter of architectural photography for publication has been raised before: see - https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2023/01/how-to-see-architecture.html. There are two issues that have been noted: the specialised framing of the subject that isolates and removes all possible references to context - or tries to; and the fragmentation of the vision that further isolates parts from their context - their content - by selecting a collection of specific details that have all been artfully composed as isolated photogenic gems to tell us all about the project. One is supposed to accept matters in this way, as though a collation of beautiful, arty parts might suggest that we are looking at a wonderful, bespoke architectural masterpiece that, with this approach to publicity, has been assembled from the reading of the pieces as gathered in our mind’s eye: it is as though we had been presented with a set of jigsaw pieces that eventually, progressively reveal a surprising vision.

The problem is that we have no master reference to use as a match for our assemblage; and the pieces have no necessary fit or rules for juxtapositioning that we could use to test likely adjacencies, as jigsaw pieces have. We are left in a quandary where our optimism and goodwill are assumed to be allies of our seeing in a way that gets the eye to dance happily over the very pretty, selected images that have been crafted by the camera as if for Instagram, allowing the reader to be cajoled into a blissful wonderment that promotes an enlightened feeling, engendering a positive attitude to assessment - ‘like’ - while infusing the understanding of the project in such a befuddled manner as to make the eyes see the subject as though through rose tinted glasses.

This coloured, emotional outcome glows with an indulgence that distracts the critical eye just as a child might be engrossed in front of a display of sweeties, leaving the viewer drooling with private delight - or so it seems that the authors, the architect, the photographer and the publisher, might wish for.

The presentation reproduced here appeared only recently; it is an excellent example of this approach to suave architectural promotions that suggest an array of slick details taken from the project might provide all the information one needs, when, in fact, the artful display shows very little, other than, perhaps, a sense of what the architect might have hoped was there. The apparent latent intent to conceal the reality with what looks like an unwillingness to publish the ‘Street View’ images of the scheme, leaves the thoughtful eye worried. The stance appears to suggest an ambition that wants to ignore matters as they might be and grasp at preferred fantasies: special ways of 'seeing as.'

It was tradition that noted that something had to be ‘real’ and ‘functional’ in the sense of being both useful and symbolically true, before it could be beautiful. The approach today seems to suggest a blind grasping at ephemeral beauty without any commitment to its roots and coherence.

This project has been selected to illustrate what has become a common strategy for architectural publications. The idea is to expose this technique rather than present a critique of the project itself. It could be that there is an expectation that this style is the preferred fashion that has its own driving force rather than being the personal preference of the architect.

This text seeks to highlight the problems with this strategy in an attempt to have more thought given to publicity options. Has the ‘creative media’ world taken over architecture and how we see it? We need to be aware of circumstances that can subtly manipulate our perceptions and change us, our expectations, and our world, leaving us with paraphrased intents. This situation has become more critical now that AI is readily available as a tool for all to use willy-nilly.

Why have we become so frightened of ‘street views’ - of seeing the world and its wonders nonchalantly; without carefully contrived preconception?

THE PROJECT

MANSFIELD HOUSE -  ROBBIE WALKER

https://thedesignfiles.net/2023/03/sustainable-homes-mansfield-house-robbie-walker/

and

https://thelocalproject.com.au/videos/mansfield-house-by-robbie-walker-video-feature-the-local-project/

27 March 2023

P.S.

Has this strategy some relationship with the 'cleansing' of older writings? - see: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/26/agatha-christie-novels-reworked-to-remove-potentially-offensive-language?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other where it is reported that Agatha Christie's works are having the 'offensive' words and phrases altered or removed in the same way as Roald Dahl's and Ian Fleming's writings have been revised. Is this era intent on only seeing and reading about a 'cleansed' world to suit the current sensibility, its sensitivity, that appears totally intolerant of things everyday with its pretence for polite awareness and prim tolerance, as seen in its avoidance of Street View, and the very ordinary phrases like "their eyes are simply disgusting, and so are their noses," and "such lovely white teeth" - both removed; with "natives" being changed to "locals"? One has to express a serious concern with this self-conscious, selective distortion of perception and expression that prefers only a preconceived, 'sanitised' experience, and a modified, mannered understanding, all when the base layer of life remains just as brutal and raw as it ever was, complete with truly disgusting eyes and noses, but lovely teeth; and natives. Are these the same things that need to be erased in architecture too?